Gary Hume

Gary Hume has generously produced Bird in a Tree, 2023, a limited edition print on the occasion of his work going on display as part of the major gallery-wide rehang at Tate Britain.

Hume’s work has evolved over time to encompass a range of subjects: figures such as mothers and babies, friends and celebrities from Tony Blackburn to Kate Moss as well as images drawn from nature or childhood including flowers, birds and snowmen. Through this varied set of motifs, Hume explores the full spectrum of emotional response from wonder and joy to melancholy and loss. Conventional ideas of beauty are frequently countered by a darker, more questioning sense of the world and recognisable forms are sometimes fragmented to near abstraction. The subject of Hume’s limited edition, Bird in a Tree, 2023, is suggested by the title yet the image leans towards abstraction and ambiguity. These qualities are captured by the fine and delicate surface texture of the photopolymer etching. Inspired by an old book of botanical illustrations, Hume was looking at the reverse side of a page when he caught a glimpse of light and dark passages, within it was a bird in a tree.

Each print is signed and numbered by the artist and comes unframed. Prices of the artwork are liable to change. As a limited edition sells out, prices of the artwork are subject to increase and the price will be clearly indicated.

• Artist Gary Hume
• Artwork Bird in a Tree
• Dimensions 76 x 56 cm
• Material Photopolymer etching on Somerset soft white 300 gsm paper
• Edition Edition of 40, signed and numbered
• Date of work 2023

Hume (b. 1962, Tenterden, UK) is strongly identified with the YBAs (Young British Artists) who came to prominence in the UK in the early 1990s. He first received critical acclaim with his large-scale paintings based on hospital doors boldly rendered in high gloss paint.

Selected solo exhibitions include Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens (2020), Aspen Art Museum (2016), Tate Britain (2013), Modern Art Oxford (2008). Selected group exhibitions include National Portrait Gallery, London (2018), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2017), Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2016), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2014). He was awarded the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1997 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1996. His work is in public collections around the world, including Art Institute of Chicago, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, Government Art Collection, London, and Museum of Modern Art, New York. He lives and works in London and New York.